Buiunghon Pogh 14.7.53.
bhatto
Unconscious clowning is easier on
the author than serious portrayal of
the jester, but though metaphorically
speaking Hellebore the Clown has
DURRANT'S PRESS CUTTINGS
rough edges and is att times uncertain
in tone, it-reveals more than a dash
29-39, Mount Pleasant, London, W.C.1.
of originality and takes the reader
Telephone: CENTRAL 3149 (Two Lines).
emotional to the heart situation. of an unhackneyed Action is
restricted to some 24 hours, when
Express & Star
Hellebore is making a come-back in
Queen Street, Wolverhampton.
the vous, Paris and of Hellebore 1920. Everyone is further is upset ner-
bya visit from a strange young man
Cutting from issue dated..
who killed tells in the him war, how suffered greatly from his son, his
neglect. Tension rises throughout the
Rurewed
daurence
day, with Hellebore fighting a hang-
Maymell.
over, but when he goes on the stage,
after an initial fajlure, he carries
CLOWN LOWTLEBORE 9
THET
through a perfect of performance.every
(Chatto andw Maurice Rowdon
movement graphic detail. which is described in
Windus, 10s. 6d.).
THE CLOWN.
HUOR Maurice Rowdon, is a
tale as compact
title.
The action of ie it. confined
very short
of timeand to
is dominated FaCE the one central
figure This of middle-aged Hellebore. man having
built a European reputation has
as one" of the great clowns, the
made no appearances during
years of the first world war.
When war is over he attempts but
to make a come-back, he
finds himself affected (even by
haunted in a strange way)
the death of his son in Flanders:
and he is nervous. that his own no
comic inventiveness may
longer have the old magic about
it. We seex xhim beset by these
fears and doubts
for
the great first night: AETEROE and very
CIOWN
close-knit and dramatic tale Mr.
HELLEBORE Tho
Rowdon makes of these pre-
THE LIVERPOOL DAILY POST & ECHO LTD
parations and what came of
them. Itis pleasant tol come across
From the
a book with a theme well out of
POST
the
and I
ordinary,
recommend
LIVERPOOL DAILY
"Hellebore the Clown 1 as an
entertaining modern novel well
above the average..
JUL 1953
Fom the Edilor
Hellebore, the (Chatto Clown, anz
Maurice Windus, 10s Rowdon 6d.), is likeable fullof but people the
who are not very and, rather
book is an interesting
The
subtle is study an nterescrsoneee ageing artistwho is
clown about to. make His much past advertised ties and
reappearanceis affections, his present him up emotions an
and fears tangle point. Out of
almost chaos comes inextricable success the but, idci the has
reader shown his feet of rate, clay.


ehauve.
THB title-and jacket-of Helle-
bore the Clown threaten_the worst
in tears, spangles, motley, andmelan-
choly. In factit is an unsentimental
and_often original study, written"with
caution-andauteness Its hero is an in-
ternationally famous clown, and its set-
tingis Paris,in 1920, where he is mak-
inga return to the stage after six
years' absence. But its real world is
the taut and tangled nerve-centre at
the back of the stage, a world not
unlike that of Colette's music-hall
novels. If not all of the characters
are.quite convincing, not one is ready-
made. and the writer steers all
the obvious pitfalls with a Furch which
would surely find greater scope, and
fewerrisks,in another kind Kof-theme.
The hikne
After these three excellent comedies, it is
difficult to work up much enthusiasm for Mr.
Rowdon's Hellebore, the Clown. The title and
publishers' note lead ore. to suppose it might
have affinities with Mr. Twining and the
Materassi ladies-laughter and tears." It is the
story of a famous clown's come-back' after a
periodof depression caused by his son's death
in the war. We are. shown the greatclown in a
series of scenes, with-lengthy, ratherponderous
dialogue-drunk and mawkish in a-night-club;
preparing with his grease paint behind the
scenes; finally his success, in spite of an evil
genius, on the first night. The taleis well told
and we,are pleasedat this success, but it awakes
neither laughter nor tears. And what else should
oneask of a, clown?
ANTHONY RHODES


Me Spras.
TLS
The Scetsuan,
That old message, "The Show
Mysteries of Personality
Must Go On," is somewhat solemnly
Hellebore the Clown, a first novel,
read by Hellebore the: Clown; or the
shows
talent. Character
Clown must go on, rather, for about
story 1S Petree of AERLEMANE a clown who, on the eve
the rest of the show there is never any
reappearance in
theatre after
doubt.i Hellebore is a famous clown
the First World VerE is visited by a
who rismaking as come-back in a
strange young man apparently holding
Parisiansrvariety show after some
him responsible for the death hisson taut
as a soldier. It isa strange ododer
yearsiof absence from ther stage.
atmosphere and far from superficial
Bedevilledi by the feeling that he was
AB its implications of the mysteries of of
responsiblet for the war-time death of
EFMETTE story falls The into inconclusiveness with the
his son (whomr he does seem to have
deceptive simplicity arcreprnntn
treated rewith ypeculiar callousness),
It is nota at the firsts famous easy artist to accept. he is
Helleboret becomes hysterically.drunk
Hellebore 1ort be, but step step the
on the hightsl before"the show./The
rnerc comesnearer to the portrait
following day seestmuch perturbation
of eccentricity. egotism, climaxof
of many spirits but thershowidoes, of
cowardice/and courage. is
course, go on. M Mri Rowdong writes
first performance beautifully
related. the as is the interplay of the
interestingly when he is, dealing
emotions of the clown's fellowper
directly with the theatre, and parti-
formers. RE A 7 ROHAET4p
cularly wellinalong description of
Hellebore's act; away from the theatre
his manner is often uncommonly
portentous.


laby Jespahtha (Mandhule) 4-753.
True to life
THE CLOWN
HELLEBORE isa novel. one of the
novels have ever read.
Ha hrst come across him ashe
attempts to make a come-back in
Paris after four years of semi-
retirement. His producer, who
had invested in this show more
money than he had ever risked is
before on a single performer.
worried that Hellebore may have
lost his touch.
His worry is. deepened when he
discovers that Hellebore intends
to devote no more than one
morning to the rehearsal of his
act. But worse is to follow.
A chance acquaintance takes
the ageing clown_to a night-club
fills him up with champagne
and returns him to his hotelin
desperate: state at5 a.m. on-the
ades of the first performance.
Everything seems desperate,
Hellebore cannot rehearse.
The producer's worst fears
seem justified when the curtain
goes up and Hellebore
across the footlights baloeo a
horrified audience. Recovering
himself, he gives the performance
of his career. 9E
Chaplin way
THIS is. the bare outlineof
exquisite story. It is
written ah19 style which excludes
all comment and in a few terse
sentences creates impressions
which will long linger in my
mind.
How well of us know the
atmosphere of tension which is
created in an audience which
suddenly
that the per-
former has AIE his nerve, and
does not know whether to take
his fumbling antics as tragedy or
comedys
The scene in which Hellebore
gradually recovers himself, and
by a mixture of the Chaplin -
technique and the older custard-
pie slap- -stick regains the
audience's affection
con-
fidence, i oneofthe dend bits of
writing have read for some
tine
NIGEL NICOLSON


Jaly
Telegraph.
the Paris, stage. after years time of absence just after from
"HELLEBORE THE CLOWIN, few the war. wade deal ont with the
suspense Maurice which Rowdon, cannot has the be said virtue to E the private days before family the sorrow performance, of Helle-
one Lodwick of the or Mr. qualities Heppenstall. of either Mr. jealousy bore himself of a and German the professional
story of an English clown It who is tamer, the other big name wild-animal in the
a about to. make his come-back in one programme. is wondering Almost whether to the lastpage, Hellebore
will fail or_succeed. But Mr. Row-
don feel writes he understands ina rather the arid theory style. of 1
the writing novel. Now let him take. up
sarily arfected-4English. more interesting-not neces-
The Spectabo.
Hellebore, the Clowni zisas somewhatmysteriousnovel: about a paragon
ofhis art, combining asi ity weretheperfection.ovirtuosity of Grimaldi
and Grock, who staged a come-back in a Paris theatre afterthe First
World War. All but bleakly ingenuous in style, the author affects
a subtlety of mind that appears to resolve itself only, in a flow of
wildly arbitrary small incident. The subtlety, in fact, is not there,
though Hellebore's. fellow artistes 31 are an enticingly odd and
mystifying lot and one catches towards the end an indubitable whiff
ofg grease-paint.
R. D. CHARQUES.


JOHN OIONDON'S
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SUNLIGHT HOUSE QUAY ST.
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Advertisement Department
Reviewed by MORCHARD BISHOP
Issue dated July10
Hellebore The Clown, by Maurice
Rowdon (Chatto and Windus.-10s. 6d.),
is a first novela and,ass suchyatremarkably,
assured performance, particularly in
its early stages. The time is 1920,
and the eponymous hero is a great
clown making his come-back, in middle-
age, in Paris, after the interval of the
war.
The scene. is set with great authority,
and all the backstage stuff-the impre-
sario, the fellow-artistes-is very well
done. Then enters' an existentialist kind
of young man whose faith in life-has
been broken by the war, and he pro-
ceeds to do his level best to wreck the
clown's First Night. The tale so far is
taut and powerful, and much resembles
in form Barnaby Conrad's Death of a
Matador, which I had the pleasure of
praising last year.
But suddenly, when all is set. for a
fine book, first-novel nerves or inexperi-
ence seize Mr. Rowdon, and his story
peters out hurriedly with an interesting
report of the clown's 6 act 7 and a*
general shuffling-up of the original
complications. The débâcle is complete,
but luckily by this time Mr. Rowdon
has done more than enough to convince
us that he is a real story-teller who is
certain to do better. Here.is a fresh,
vigorous and altogether unusual talent.


WESTERN DAILY PRESS
BRISTOL
ISSUE - 8 SEP 1973
DATED
your dog
trying to
tell
you
something?
THE next time
After nine months of
starts
by Dan
lessons Belam, asked what
your dog
he had seen in the wood,
tapping the ground
Lees
replied that he meant raven, a confirmed bird, and
with its front paw,
added that it had pecked The talking dogs: A howier, or asc
attention.
the Loch Ness Monster him Another
advance?
pay
and pavement fried eggs. breakthrough was to great teach
It could be trying to But now, with scientists the dogs personal pro-
complain about the food making serious efforts to nouns proving that the
or to lay the ground- and communicate dolphins, with Elke apes and animals had a sense of
work for a philosophical Belam could stand a identity.
discussion.
chance of getting through spelling By 1975 out the
were that
In Bavaria in
LdoEr
southern to us, especially as they they had overheard rather
Germany a poodle called seem to have. a great deal than been taught and giv-
Elke and a saluki called more to say than most ing their thoughts on the
Belam have been talking of the others.
after life as "a soft dark
to their mistress since Former personnel con- mist with eternal genuine
1973, using their
to sultant Dorothy Meyer lustre".
signal an alphabet adta taps. and her friend Frau
Heilmaier began by
Silly
teaching the dogs to count
Conclusions
and then to do simple
The conversations, sums.
In The Talking Dogs
which began with words and When multiply they could they divide were Maurice (Macmillan, Rowdon, £5.95) who
like include man subjects and ball, like now the introduced to the letter spent some time in Ger-
afterlife and the existence tapping code: One tap for many with the dogs and
of God.
two for 0, three taps their teachers, tells the
for R and so on up to story of their achieve-
Talking animals have 25 taps for X.
ments in such painstaking
been around for a long After weeks of patient detail that only. two con-
time.
work the dogs' vocabulary clusions are possible.
A tapping horse men- included words like gut Either the two German
tioned in Love's Labours for good, dumm for stu- ladies and their pets have
Lost who could do pid, katze for cat, and made the sort of
"strange and wonderful wurst for sausage, with breakthrough that war-
things by the arts of Belam lagging behind rants an immediate inves-
magicke" was later Elke.
tigation by the m ost
burned at the stake with But even Elke was only highly qualified scientists
his master "as one witch", tapping out words sug- available.
while in the 1900s Clever gested to her or written Or they are consum-
Hans a stallion who could up_on the blackboard.
mate liars and confidence
count, spell, add, subtract Then Dorothy began tricksters with Mr Row-
and read clocks and maps, asking her pupils ques- don as their dupe or their
became world famous.
tions like "do you accomplice.
By and large, however, remember the name of Meanwhile I shall be
talking dogs and the rest this sign?" which careful about what I say
have had a bad press as demanded a definite in front of our cat.
a regular feature of the answer and provided for You never know whom
silly season, along with a controllable response.:
she might repeat it to,


18 EVENING NEWS TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1978
QUESTION: WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHOW THE WORLD
Elke
out
YES
tapped
our
and
lessons began
AT THE beginning, teaching
It was six weeks before she learned and then simple multiplica- to show the world what, rows there were: the answer
Elke was almost impossible.
to tap properly. She would lie on her tion: 1x2, 1x3 etc, up to 20. animals can think and have came unhesitantly 7.
back and roll her eyes at Dorothy, She was still unable to sit feelings just like us?
"And how much is: 7x5,
Her lessons started in March, 1974, dabbing at her with uplifted paws. All quietly. would for long, lose and at "You must deçide for your- that. is all the beads
when she was hardly a year old. For she knew was how to tap YES and NO. again. times Nor could she interest control selt. lessons You right may away your you together?" Elke tapped 35.
the first few sessions she wanted
When
exercises
SOPT
just
took school counting
began, she her moods. The sound of run- wish; no one 1S going to "How
beads does
to have fun, offering both paws learned a little more seriously. She ning paws would throw her force you. You. may tap yes each row many have?"
gether and either giving too many
to tap from 1 to 10 using both into wild excitement and the or no. Do you want to go on She
paws, though over-excitement often lesson would have to stop. with the
tapped 5. It seemed
Lor none at all.
made her. tap more than the number
Elke tapped lessons?" YES. But as Now easy came as division barking for her.
asked.
Thought
later, when Dorothy started 4 divided by 2, 8 divided problems: by
When this stage 'was In May 1974 Dorothy
to teach her the alphabet." 2 and so on. But how to get
securely passed, she a carpet down to mark DaE she tapped NO. Though still the concept of division into
learned to distinguish left school area. "This is your willing to oblige Dorothy by a dog's head?
paw from right, and to schoolroom," she explained coming to lessons. she seemed Frau Heilmaier suggested
reserve e the left for to her, patting the carpet. tired A of: the whole project. Frau showing Elke 4 rows of 5
multiples of 10 and the The tea-trolley appeared Heilmaier's holiday period at followed. beads each, Elke would recog-
right for units.
with the educational equip-
cottage
nise 20. easily as the total lifted
She hated this new discl-. ment: abacus, cards and pen- during which at there were no number of- beads. Then she But
pline and for weeks staged a. cils. "This is for you. and lessons all.
would be told: à But you. see effusive Belam
mute rebellion. She pre- onlv for youl".
Was this all the rest she this 20 is divided into 4 anyway
ferred to think of school as Elkë sniffed at it. curious needed ? On her return to parts!"
do was
playtime, a wonderful chance and expectant. wagging her Berchtesgaden she ran to. It worked. Elke began elegiaci
to have Dorothy alone. all tail.
her place on the carpet as answering division problems huge
to herself.
It was clearly time for if. no longer able to wait, with a smoothness that into S
Dorothy began to use the Frau Heilmaier to explain almost throwing herself into astonished Dorothy. Multipli- far be:
abacus to teach her first the meaning of dog educa- Dorothy's arms.
cation and division problems his D
addition and subtractions, tion. to Elke. So "Mami" She now learned. to count continued. over several days, towards
made a special visit to up to 50. Dorothy divided the with progressively bigger
"school" and sat Elke down beads on the abacus into 4 numbers as the lessons went
O Maurice Rowdon in front of her.
rows of 10, 5, 7, and 3 beads on.
Offer
1978. Published by Mac-
"Do you know there have each, and began demonstrat- It was at this point that deeply
millan (London) Ltd., been dogs who could count ing simple adding and divid- Belam joined the. class, at dogs, 1
at £5-95 on September and read and write. and tell ing problems. She arranged first only as an observer. and ea
human beings what they 35 beads in rows of 5 each Dorothy tried to coax him of his
thought? Would you too like and asked her how many into the tapping position and statemi
aS MARTR